ante_climaxStill do not explain the beak like front projection and the tail. Your first theory as the bird looks more accurate.
ante_climaxWhat I do have is a little knowledge of physics – unlike you.
A little knowledge my friend is a dangerous thing. :diablo:
ante_climaxTell that to the Koreans. They got exactly one proposal for their latest “competition”, because the previous one had been such a fiasco.
On a lesser scale of idiocy, running a FUBARed competition screws up not only the suppliers, but your own assessment. If you want to get the right product, at the right price, & with the after-sales service you want, then you need to run the entire thing properly. Playing the primadonna is a great way to end up in a mess, with the wrong product, improperly specced, & a supplier who, having been treated by dirt like you up to the point at which it’s too late for you to back out, gleefully takes you to the cleaners in revenge.
If you want good service, you need to treat vendors with respect.
This is the last foriegn fighter we are going to buy. After this it is all Joint Development and Indigenous.
So i guess we can make this RFP as tough as this is. We won’t be reliant on foriegn fighters after this. This is India’s farewell bid. 🙂
And to be fair keeping all the players in tll the final minute will give us more room to maneuver and get the best deal out of them. Koreans did use the Rafale to get a better deal for F 15 K.
ante_climaxYes. The evaluation requirements should have been laid out in the original RFP, so that manufacturers would have known whether there was any point in putting in a proposal.
Frankly, the whole selection procedure has been an almighty ****-up. The rules keep changing, the schedule is written in smoke . . .
Read the blog Bill Sweetman posted. If you complain about the RFP you will be escorted out of the competition.
Actually its our competition and we conduct it the way we want to. The Americans and Russians are not complaining, its the Europeans who are always whining, not sending planes etc.
Get over it if you want the deal put up with it. You have no choice. Its a Buyers Market 😎
I have heard here that one competitor already came close to getting ridden out of town on a rail for that offense.
I will be 10 $ that its SAAB he is talking about.
ante_climaxYeah you know about the dodging ability of my hypothetical mach 5 missile. They are working on it, and your Daring don’t have a chance (if you say the missile cannot dodge I can say your ships will sink. get it).
ante_climaxYou can even see the beak if you look close 😐
ante_climaxNot so. It flies fairly high, making it detectable on radar from much further out than a sea-skimmer. It’s not that hard to intercept for a 100 km range Mach 4 SAM.
One advantage of the speed – and size – is that it’s harder to shoot down by close-in defences such as guns, as the window of opportunity is shorter, & its momentum could carry it on to the target even if hit. But it is not “almost impossible to intercept”.
Fire a volley of 3 Mach 5 missiles and one is a sure hit 😉
read
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_India_To_Develop_New_BrahMos_Cruise_Missile_999.html
ante_climaxThe K order is for the Navy.
This is for the RuAF. The reason for this may be the large number of MIGs being grounded, one would assume that a large number of them will be scrapped. The other reason may be to reassure India that Russia is committed to the platform, and strengthen its case for the MRCA. 🙂
ante_climaxHypersonic or not only 300 KM range. It will be a good Antiship weapon almost impossible to intercept at those speeds.
ante_climaxIndian Fighters: Expensive, Frustrating and Irresistible
Posted by Bill Sweetman at 2/11/2009 7:00 AM CST
As the Aero-India show gets under way in Bangalore, the world’s fighter sales teams are getting ready for the next stage in the battle of India’s massive 126-aircraft Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest.
It’s an expensive activity. Four of the competitors – MiG, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Eurofighter – have brought aircraft here. All except MiG have multiple aircraft, to support the flying display itself and VIP flights for military and government officials, celebrities and news anchors. Logistics support, thousands of miles from any operational base, is a massive undertaking. (And another reason for multiple aircraft: if an aircraft needs spares, they won’t get there in time for the next day’s show.) And soon they will have to do it all again, for a formal evaluation.
But as some industry people point out, this contest is so wide open that it’s hard for any team to assess its chances of winning. When the contestants cover a two-to-one size range (the Gripen NG has one F414 engine, the Super Hornet two) you know that the request for proposals (RFP) was fairly loose.
The Indian AF has not defined its needs for training or contractor logistics support, or set out a firm schedule for deliveries, or determined how many lots or batches will be bought.
At least one team would like to see a downselect soon. To paraphrase: If we don’t stand a chance, tell us now so we can focus efforts elsewhere. Another executive complains that his offering’s being criticised as expensive – but absent some decisions on funding profile and contractor support, he can’t propose a price, so he wonders where that criticism is coming from.
Political factors are important. The Europeans are pitching “independence” – they are more willing to share source code and other details than the US. That argument may resonate in India, but on the other hand the thawing of US-Indian relations in recent years has been rapid, and it continues. Indian-Russian military ties, too, remain close.
At the same time, nobody’s willing to criticise the RFP process in public. I have heard here that one competitor already came close to getting ridden out of town on a rail for that offense. So expect a lot of “industry sources say” in the next few days. Loose lips sink campaigns!
ante_climaxMiG-35s for the Russian Air Force
Maxim Pyadushkin writes: The Russian Air Force has decided to order a batch of MiG-35 fighters, according to MiG design bureau director Vladimir Barkovsky, and the order has already been included in the procurement program for the next three years. The move will secure the future of the MiG-35, a highly modified version of the MiG-29 that is Russia’s candidate for India’s MMRCA contest.
This news is certainly good for MiG Corporation, which is trying to recover from a difficult financial situation. The Russian government has already allocated 15 billion rubles to increase the company’s charter capital and to help cover its 44.8 billion ruble debt (about $1.2 billion). On February 11, prime minister Vladimir Putin announced a new 17.3 billion ruble order for MiG. This apparently includes the purchase by the Russian Air Force of the MiG-29SMT fighters rejected by Algeria in 2007-2008.
The purchase of MiG-35s will be a serious boost for the fighter’s prospects in India, but Russian government officials are still worried that these plans might be postponed due to budget cuts resulting from the economic crisis. According to unofficial information, some Russian defense manufacturers are already facing 15-30% cuts in domestic procurement programs approved earlier.
ante_climaxEurofighter woos India for its Typhoon
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: Eurofighter Consortium, the leading fighter aircraft manufacturer in Europe, on Thursday made a strong bid to woo India for the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon, its latest fighter jet, saying it was prepared to partner with India for the project.
“By partnership, we mean proven partnership and not lip service. It means ownership and transfer of technology (to India) from the very first minute of signing the agreement,” said Aloysius Rauen, chief executive of Eurofighter GmbH told presspersons here.
Later, answering a question, he said Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) would be its partner if its bid for procurement of 126 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force was accepted. Also, Eurofighter Typhoon companies are confident to fulfil the 50 per cent offset obligation of the Request for Proposal and will offer India access to an international sourcing network of unparalleled scope.
Mr. Rauen said that Eurofighter was the only consortium in the world having firm orders for 707 fighter jets. The jets had flown over 57,000 hours, including 50,000 hours by air forces of partner countries. While 167 Typhoons had so far been produced, the production line would be open at least till 2020, he said.
Bernhard Gerwert, CEO, Military Air System, European Aeronautical Development Society’s Defence and Security wing, said Eurofighter was backed by Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Astria. Chiefs of Air Staff of four countries, except Austria, were present on the occasion, who vouched for the superiority of the Typhoon.
Mr. Gerwert said: “A competitive Eurofighter Typhoon bid proposal and a comprehensive offset offer were submitted to the Indian authorities in (August) 2008 (in response to bids for medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) programme.”
“We have a strong interest to create a long-lasting strategic partnership with Indian aerospace and defence companies and we are committed to bring our capabilities, skills and technologies into this win-win-partnership,” Mr. Gerwert said.
“India is our partner of choice, and therefore we invite it to join the Eurofighter Typhoon programme as a partner. We are ready to listen and to learn from our Indian customers and industrial partners,” he noted.
Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, Chief of Staff, German Air Force, said the Typhoons with his force had flown over 10,000 without an accident. On the other hand, his United Kingdom counterpart Glen Tropy said Typhoons with the Royal Air Force had flown over 25,000 hours. However, both of them said the fighter jets were deployed neither in Iraq nor in Afghanistan for strategic reasons.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/13/stories/2009021353340400.htm
ante_climaxLet US sell F-16s to Pakistan: IAF Chief
Deccan Herald » State » Detailed Story
Let US sell F-16s to Pakistan: IAF Chief
DH News Service, Bangalore:
A week after foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menons outburst against USA selling F-16s to Pakistan, Chief of the Indian Air Force Fali Major said he had no problems if both India and Pakistan used a common weapon platform like F-16 fighters.
“Concern depends on the type of weapon. If its a common platform, it doesn’t bother me. Enemies can use the same weapon differently,” Air Chief Marshal Major told reporters at Aero-India, 2009 here on Thursday.
Responding to queries on the possibility of India importing F-16s as one of its mainstay fighters, Major said, “You may import a platform, but you still need high indigenous capability to tweak the instrument to suit individual needs.”
The IAF chief’s comments come in the wake of Shiv Shankar Menon’s remarks in Paris on February 6, when he criticised the sale of foreign arms to Pakistan in the name of fighting terrorism. He had said that it was like ‘selling whisky to an alcoholic.’
The USA has been one of the Pakistan’s key military backers, including providing F-16 fighter jets in return for political support for its operations in Afghanistan. F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin is in contention for the Indian 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal.
When it is realised, MMRCA, will be one of the mainstay fighters for the Indian air force, along with Su-30 and light combat aircraft (LCA). The IAF is in the process of reducing its inventory (having just two to three types of fighters) rather than maintaining a large number of different aircraft.
The IAF has set a target to bolster its squadron strength up to the sanctioned position of 39.5 squadrons, by inducting MMRCA, LCA and home-made Su-30s.
“We are now around 34 squadrons. We can come down a bit more and then we will pick up. Without losing combat edge we hope to have the sanctioned strength by 2017, and a little more by 2020,” Major said.
Asked if the acquisition process in the IAF has been put on fast track following the Mumbai terror attack, Major said IAF did not wait for 26/11 for force structuring and improving the weapon profile. “We always have the capability to fight from the highest to the lowest end of the spectrum, and cater to all adversaries.”
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Feb132009/state20090213118212.asp
ante_climaxIt looks like a bird, do not look like a UFO at all.
ante_climaxAccording to Shiv Aroor
Update: The MMRCA “FET” Plan
Flight evaluation tests (FET) of the six medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) kicks off officially in April. The six contenders from been asked to bring three aircraft to India for the month-long session. The IAF will designate three evaluation teams, each of which will try out two aircraft from each competitor. The trials kick off with handling and aerodynamic performance trials under the aegis of the ASTE in Bangalore. In early May, the fighters will be flown to Jaisalmer for hot weather desert trials. Finally, they’ll move to Leh for high altitude trials involving a pair of aircraft from each competitor. Starting around September, evaluation teams from the IAF will visit the country of origin of each competing fighter for systems trials, which includes demonstration and testing of radar, EW suites, avionics, cockpit gear, countermeasures, weapons and weapon systems and communication integration.
http://livefist.blogspot.com/2009/02/update-mmrca-fet-plan.html
Three aircraft of each type. Lockheed will probably bring three Block 60s. What about MIG how many do they have, I heard one is in production. How many Gripen Demo’s are there ??
For EF, Rafale and SH this is not an issue.
There is also good news for Eurofighter in particular i believe. IAF visiting the country of origin for testing the radar would mean the prototype one they have would be evaluated in all probability.
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